St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, a 431 bed Syracuse hospital, recently announced that its cardiac rehabilitation program received recertification by the American
Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACPR).
Recertification means that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center met AACPR standards, including: methods for disease management, disease education, risk factor intervention, and symptom recognition.
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Before the internet, it was almost impossible for patients to learn about doctor qualifications, including where a doctor went to medical school, whether a doctor has published articles or performed research in the field, whether a doctor has made a mistake and been sued for medical malpractice and, if so, how many times and the outcome of each lawsuit.
Patients now use the internet to investigate their ailments and their doctors. Amy L. Friedman, M.D., a Syracuse transplant surgeon who works at SUNY Upstate Medical University, believes that at least 10% of her patients research her qualifications before they meet her. In a recent article published in Renal & Urology News, Dr. Friedman stated that a transplant patient recently found her CV online and attempted to secure copies of her articles. His interest was in the “most controversial ones.”
Dr. Friedman stated that she does “not have confidence that all patients are able to sort through such resources with recognition of the most valid and accurate information.”
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Gestational diabetes is a condition where a pregnant woman’s body is unable to make or use enough insulin. Insulin is hormone that causes cells in specific areas of the body, such as the liver, to take up glucose from the blood.
Gestational diabetes is very common pregnancy complication. As many as 5% of women develop the condition. In most cases, the diabetes resolves after pregnancy (however, gestational diabetes increases the risk of diabetes later in life). Gestational diabetes has almost no visible symptoms. It is usually diagnosed through glucose testing performed around the 25th week of pregnancy. Undiagnosed gestational diabetes can be the result of medical malpractice.
Often, gestational diabetes can cause an fetus to grow very large, which can increase the risk of birth injuries such as cerebral palsy and erb’s palsy. As such, many women with gestational diabetes undergo c-sections.
Risk factors for gestational diabetes include obesity, family history of diabetes, prior gestational diabetes, maternal age greater than 25 years, more than 5 prior pregnancies, and a history of stillbirth.
Treatment for gestational diabetes includes Insulin and diet changes.
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Syracuse-area hospitals and doctors fail to diagnose medical conditions everyday. These failures to diagnose form the basis of lawsuits for medical malpractice and wrongful death. Generally, most failure to diagnose lawsuits arise of out heart attacks, breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and appendicitis.
That being said, there are thousands of people walking around Central New York with undiagnosed medical conditions. The following conditions frequently go undiagnosed:
* osteoporosis (1 in 15 with condition go undiagnosed);
* hypertension (1 in 18 with condition go undiagnosed);
* COPD (1 in 18 with condition go undiagnosed);
* thyroid disorders (1 in 20 with condition go undiagnosed);
* sleep apnea (1 in 27 with condition go undiagnosed);
* diabetes (1 in 47 with condition go undiagnosed);
* aneurysm (1 in 136 with condition go undiagnosed); and
* AIDS (1 in 1,208 with condition go undiagnosed).
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According to a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, most doctors are aware of the mistakes they have made. Of the doctors polled, almost all could recall the instances when they misdiagnosed a patient, or made a diagnosis too slowly. On average, each physician polled reported an extraordinary 2.2 errors.
The most common misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses reported were pulmonary embolism, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, drug reactions, and strokes.
The most common reasons for the misdiagnoses were failure to order laboratory tests, failure to review the results of laboratory tests ordered, inadequate histories, inadequate physical examinations, failure to order a consultation, and failure to consider alternate causes for the patient’s symptoms.
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According to a recent study, as many as one-half of all hospital patients in hospital intensive care units have infections and nearly three-in-four patients are being given antibiotics. While infections are not usually the result of medical malpractice, the failure to diagnose an infection or the failure to prescribe antibiotics for an infection can form the basis of a medical malpractice lawsuit.
When it comes to infections, the stakes are high. This is because hospital patients with infections are more likely to die — especially if the infection evolves into sepsis (blood poisoning). According to Dr. Jean-Louis Vincent of Erasme University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, “the incidence of sepsis is increasing, as is the number of consequent infection-related deaths.”
In the study, more than 60% of infections were within the lungs. The abdomen and blood (sepsis) were also common locations for infection. The most prevalent bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli.
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A baby girl diagnosed with cerebral palsy shortly after birth recently enjoyed the fruits of cord blood research. While medical malpractice and birth injury or birth trauma (e.g., asphyxia, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, and ischemia) account for many cases of cerebral palsy, her disability was not due to medical malpractice. Rather, her brain damage was the result of an utero stroke.
Shortly after the baby’s first birthday, the family turned to stem cells banked during birth for a solution to their daughter’s permanent mental and physical disabilities, including an inability to hold her bottle, talk and walk. After a fifteen minute re-infusion of her stem cells, the baby girl began to improve. Within four days. her rigid right side began to loosen and her speech improved. Then she stopped dragging her foot and began to use her right hand. She now lives a normal life.
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Central New York women who smoke, including women smokers in Syracuse, Watertown, Utica, Herkimer, Auburn, Oswego, Binghamton and other upstate New York State cities, have an increased risk of developing seizures.
According to a recent study, smokers were two to three times more likely to suffer a seizure. Theories for the increase in seizure activity include nicotine, and the fact that smoking decreases oxygen in the blood which decreases sleep (and increases the risk for seizures).
Generally, seizures arise from abnormal electrical activity in the brain, and are often associated with symptoms such as vision changes, a change in sensation, convulsions, and a loss of consciousness. Common causes of seizures include epilepsy, head trauma and stroke.
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Nearly every day, meningitis is misdiagnosed in New York hospitals, including Syracuse-area hospitals such as University Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, Crouse Hospital, Samaritan Medical Center, Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Albany Medical Center. The failure to diagnose meningitis can have significant consequences, including loss of speech, hearing and, in some cases, limb loss and death.
Recently, the family of young boy recovered in a lawsuit brought a doctor and hospital for failing to diagnose meningitis. The boy lost his foot and most of his right hand. According to reports, the boy fell ill and presented to his pediatrician who, after a brief examination, diagnosed the infant with a stomach bug. A rash developed and, by the time the boy was transported to the hospital, he was suffering from advanced sepsis (blood poisoning). His kidneys failed and amputations began, starting with his right foot and ankle, as well as the thumb and two fingers on the boy’s right hand. The amputations were necessary to prevent the spread of gangrene.
According to the Meningitis Research Foundation, “meningitis can kill in hours.” For this reason, timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease is crucial.
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Crouse Hospital, a 506 bed facility based in Syracuse, New York, and Community General Hospital, a 306 bed facility also based in Syracuse, New York, are discussing the possibility of a merger to lower costs and improve upon patient care.
Crouse President and CEO Dr. Paul Kronenberg, and Community General President and CEO Tom Quinn agree that Syracuse is not large enough to support four hospitals.
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Syracuse Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog